Trestling Under the Influence
by girlno4282
Summary: AU – Crossover  'Sunshine Cleaning'  – With the help of her best friend Effy, Katie finds herself starting a crime scene clean up business. Katie/OC but not for long, Katie/Effy and Katie/?
1. Nothing New, Nothing's Changed

**Title:** Trestling Under the Influence  
><strong>Chapter:<strong> Nothing New, Nothing's Changed  
><strong>Rating:<strong> T for swearing and whatnot

**So this is my first attempt at Skins fanfic, and I decided to do an AU Crossover with the film Sunshine Cleaning! I've taken the general themes and ideas from the movie and "Skins-ified" it! Also, I am in NO WAY British – In fact I'm Canadian. So to make things easier with the slang, and the British terms and style of writing, I've decided to set this story in some town in Oregon?**

**This is unbeta'd so all mistakes are definitely mine!**

* * *

><p>Katie feels her insides clench as she gawks helplessly at the appalling scene unfolding in front of her. <em>This can't be happening. This can't be fucking happening! <em>She puts her car into park, near the fire trucks and the smoldering house.

Her mouth goes dry as she immediately remembers that she still hasn't tracked down Effy. Scanning the area, she finds her sitting in the company van across the street. Getting out of the car, all Katie could think of as she runs over to the van is that A) thank god Effy's alive, and B) Effy's so _fucking dead!_ As she gets closer she sees that Effy is hunched over, headphones on and cradling something in her lap.

Katie raps at the door, catching the waif's attention. Effy pulls off her headphones, and opens the door to reveal a small black kitten curled in her lap.

"It was an accident," Effy defends.

"How does this fucking happen? How do you burn a house down, Effy? Jesus fucking Christ!"

Still holding the kitten, Effy gets out of the van and attempts to calm Katie down, with no success. "Jesus Katie, calm down."

Katie screams out in frustration, stomping her feet, her fists clenched tightly at her sides. She throws her keys at Effy who turns to shield the kitten. The keys collide against her shoulder, falling to the ground as the skinny brunette could only stare at her in bewilderment. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"What the fuck is wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you. You've fucking ruined me!"

Effy laughs out loud bitterly, shaking her head at her.

"Well you should've been here helping me instead of desperately trying to impress your stupid sister, and your high school people who don't even matter, or even give a shit about you. Proving to them that you're not a big loser. If you had been here doing your job this wouldn't have happened. So don't try to put this all on me."

Katie gasps. "Are you fucking kidding me? This is on you. You set a fucking house on fire. I can't believe I was so stupid to think that you could handle a little bit of responsibility."

"Oh fuck off Katie. I'm so sick of all your holier than thou bullshit. Why don't you take a look at your own life, yeah? You're a real inspiration."

Effy turns to walk away, but like hell Katie would let her get away with saying that shit to her face. Her hand shoots out and grabs Effy by the collar of her shirt, spinning her skinny ass around. "Oh that's right. Turn everything to shit and walk away. It's your style, isn't it? Fuck everyone's life and then runaway. You haven't fucking changed one bit. It's _Freddie_ all over again."

Effy shoves Katie. "Fuck off, Katie. Don't go there."

As Effy turns to walk away, Katie grins and pushes one more time: "Don't go there? How can I not? This is exactly the kind of thing you did – you _always do_ when shit hits the fan because of you fucking up. Remember? I mean I know you'll never accept that it was your fault that he took the drugs. And your fault you were both off your faces, that you both went mental, so fucking mental to the point that he went and took his own-" Effy's lunging at her in a flash, her fist connecting with face before Katie could utter out the rest of her sentence. She goes down in a second, hitting the pavement hard as she tastes blood.

"Fuck off," Effy says with so much despair in her voice, that it almost comes out as a sob. Katie groans, rolling over to gape at the taller girl. The expression on Effy's face is dark, full of hate and sadness. Her eyes, which are usually a brilliant blue are full of tears. The brown eyed burgundy haired brunette looks down and is surprised to see the kitten still safe in Effy's grasps. Effy pulls the kitten closer to her, as she turns around and leaves.

Her footsteps echo in the night air, as Katie reaches up to touch her split lip. She winces at the pain, shaking her head as she reaches into her purse for her cell phone. She flips it open to see that the display is cracked. "Fuuuck." After a moment to recollect her self, she hits her speed dial –

"Hello?"

"Hey," Katie sighs into the receiver.

_Three Months Earlier…_

Katie drags a vacuum cleaner across the living room floor where expensive décor collides with the debris of a recent party. As she vacuums next to a sliding glass door, she glances out the window and stares out at a group of twenty somethings frolicking about next to the pool.

One of the boys moves toward her, as Katie quickly focuses her attention back to the task at head, hiding the fact that she had just been staring at the group. The lanky boy slides open the door, dripping with water as he makes his way to retrieve a bottle of beer from the refrigerator. He brushes past Katie on his way back out, almost colliding directly into her.

Katie huffs glancing down at her chest, specifically at the logo imprinted on her uniform: _Moira's Cleaning Services_. She sighs, wondering whether or not the wanker even saw her at all.

Katie didn't have a whole lot going for her these days. She was currently working a mediocre job, living in a mediocre apartment, and was a living a mediocre life. Sometimes the only thing that made things at least half way decent was the fact that she was lucky enough to live with her best friend, Effy, who she's known since high school. Back then, life seemed so much better. It was just – _simpler_. Back then she was popular, and back then she still had Emily, her twin sister…

Then, the _incident_ happened, and everything changed. Life was different for everyone, and although Katie understood that because of what had happen she was supposed to seize life and live it to the fullest, she did so in a foolish way. While Emily decided to work towards a future and pursue her ambitions, Katie decided to seize life and party – enjoy every moment of it because – _you never know, really?_ Soon, the twins wounded up growing apart, and their relationship turned to shambles as they fought over different ideals; Emily always criticizing Katie for partying too hard, and Katie for telling her younger twin to mind her own fucking business, and to stop and enjoy life instead of work all the time. Soon though, high school would end and soon Katie's life was over. Reality hit hard and Katie found herself stuck with shit grades, only qualified to do shit serving jobs. Soon, all her friends were moving on with their lives, while Katie was left in the afterglow of her glory days. Katie was stuck going from one shit job to another, and never really going anywhere. Meanwhile Emily would move away to California to go to university, and eventually the twins would fall out of touch.

The only thing that Katie had left now that she no longer had Emily, were her memories, and Effy.

Yet, Effy wasn't always solid.

Katie's in bed seconds close to dozing off when Effy decides it's the perfect time to ruin her mood. She hears Effy sigh, and opens her eyes to see the taller girl press up against the threshold.

"What is it?" Katie offers, lifting her head up lazily from her pillow. At first Effy says nothing, and just saunters over taking a seat on the edge of her bed. She picks at a rip in Katie's duvet, before quietly replying, "I got fired today."

Katie's eyes widen as she immediately sits up and glares at her. "What the fuck?"

"I just got into a fight with Mr. Kim, and he just… fired me."

"Effs, you know this is completely bad timing. It's almost the end of the month and rent's due. I can't pay for it all by myself—"

"I know, I know. You think I meant to get fired?"

"Fuck," Katie hisses, rubbing at her eyelids. "I shouldn't have to deal with this right now."

"Look I'll fix it. I promise. Just, maybe in the meantime Eric can help you?"

Katie turns to give her a look.

"Or not. Just don't worry Katie, I'll fix it somehow." Effy pleads, but Katie knows better. She _knows_ Effy.

"No. You mean, _I'll _fix this shit. Like I always do." She gets off of the bed, and grabs her purse from her night table. "I can't keep carrying you Effy. You need to get your shit together. One of these days…" She trails off as her eyes bore into Effy's. All she sees in her deep blue eyes is "_Sorry"._

One of these days, _"Sorry"_ won't be enough.

Katie lies on her back as Eric, her on-again, off-again boyfriend fucks her in Room 214 in a seedy motel found on the outskirts of town. This is where the usually meet; it's usually during the day-time in between lunch and early evening – and it's _always _in this same room. It's no way near fucking romantic, but it's the closest thing to a relationship that she's had in ages. It's also the most consistent things she's had going for her in the last five years, other than her friendship with Effy.

Her head nearly hits the headboard with every thrust as she closes her eyes, and tries to enjoy getting fucked. She hasn't enjoyed fucking Eric in a _long time_.

In the beginning they used to have a lot of fun. At first there was something sexy about having an illicit affair with a married man. A police officer even. Nowadays Katie found it was something for her to do, because really in between work, home time, and maybe the occasionally girls night with Effy she had nothing better to do. In the beginning the sex was good, and now it was lacking.

She remembers the first time she met him, at a rundown bar down the street from the motel. She had just been fired from one of her shit jobs, and was recently dumped by another stupid tosser. So as luck would have it in Eric's case, his timing was perfect for she was so was utterly down in the dumps when he had appeared by her side with a drink in hand. He was suave enough, and okay good looking enough with his strong jaw, and green eyes, that Katie let herself be taken by his charm. The thing that she liked about him, and the only reason she followed him back to the motel room that night was that he was _honest_.

He was clear about being married in the first place, and clear about only wanting to shag her with no strings attached. At that time, after having been with half a dozen assholes who were never honest, and who didn't treat her nearly half as well as Eric did in the span of couple hours, Katie was easily taken by him.

Her head starts to thump against the headboard, awakening Katie from her thoughts, as Eric starts to pound into her even harder. As Eric comes, Katie turns her face away to sigh. He collapses on top of her, sweaty and out of breath as Katie accepts that she won't be _coming_ tonight.

Katie gets out of bed and begins putting her clothes on. Eric watches for a moment, then rolls out of bed. He stops in mid motion, a pained look on his face.

"Still sore?" Katie asks. He shakes his head. "I don't know why you did that."

"You should hear the way he goes on about his lean body mass index bullshit. Drinking that antioxidant, protein powder, enzyme crap all the time."

Eric finally gets up and limps over to his clothes hanging over a chair next to the bed.

"When was the last time you played basketball?"

"He needed to be brought down a peg," Eric defends as he throws his shirt over his head.

"Right, I'm sure you pulling a groin muscle humbled the fuck outta him."

Katie smirks, as Eric pretends to be offended.

"I should introduce him to your friend Effy."

"Right, an ex-junkie with a cop? You're fucking crazy if you think that's going to happen."

Eric shrugs as he steps into his slacks. Katie smooths out her skirt and readjusts it. She turns around and sizes herself up in the mirror. Eric takes this as the opportunity to slide his hands around her waist from behind.

"We were working a scene today where this guy offs himself in a sporting goods store. So they had this crew out there, right? You would not believe how much money they charge for that kind of shit."

Katie makes a face, as she cringes. "With the dead body there?"

"No, no. The body's gone, it's just the blood and stuff."

"Sounds repulsive."

Eric laughs at Katie's squeamishness, nuzzling his stubbly face into her neck. His gruffness scratches at her soft skin, as she shoves at him playfully at first, but then gives into his affections.

"You should get into that."

Katie freezes under his touch. "You think that's all I can do?" Eric's eyes go wide eyed as he opens his mouth to protest, but Katie is quick to shove him away completely, "Clean other people's shit?"

"Babes, that not what I meant –"

He reaches out for her, but the damage has been done. Katie bends down to pick up her purse, and makes he way to the door.

"What about cash, don't you want it?"

_Fuck. _Katie almost forgot about the money Eric said he'd lend her. Yet, after his twattish remark about Katie moving from one cleaning job to another, Katie really just wants to flip him off and tell him to go fuck himself, because she really doesn't need him. Truth is – because of Effy's fuck up – _she_ _does_. It takes every ounce of self-control for Katie to not leave the motel room, as she stays frozen in place.

She reaches out and begrudgingly takes the cash from Eric. Eric smiles and pulls Katie roughly into a hug.

"That's my girl!"

When she's back at the apartment Effy's waiting for her on the balcony smoking a joint.

"I was wondering when you'd come back."

Katie huffs with annoyance as she steals the joint from Effy's lips and takes a drag. She turns to Effy and blows the smoke directly into her face.

Effy coughs waving the haze out of her face, "Thanks Katie."

Katie glares before taking another drag, this time blowing the smoke into the night sky. "So what, were you stoned or something?"

"No! I wasn't stoned." Effy crosses her arms, "It was just Mr. Kim being a dick head."

"I find that hard to believe. In fact I thought you liked Mr. Kim," Katie says, leaning over the railing to watch the cars drive by the apartment building below. She finishes the fag, dropping the butt into an ashtray. She turns around and faces Effy, "When are you going to grow up and take responsibility for—"

"—Oh please," Effy canters, "You love it when I fuck up. Love it. Me screwing up gives you the hugest boner, and makes you feel so much better about your failure of a life –"

"—Fuck off Effy."

There is a moment of silence, as the girls just stare at each other not even blinking. It's a challenge and Katie knows that she's not about to be the one that breaks. Of course, Effy _is the first_ to break.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm getting tired of hearing that Eff."

"I know, but I mean it this time. Really," Effy says softly as she reaches for Katie's hand. "I promise I'll make things better."

Katie sighs, as she pulls Effy into a hug. "You better."

She is wiping down the last window in the master bedroom, when Paul an elderly man, and her current client wanders into the bedroom and offers her tea. She politely declines when the doorbell rings.

"That must be my wife."

"Okay," Katie says as she tosses away the used paper towel into the trash bin. She starts to pack away her cleaning supplies, when she hears Paul open the door for his wife, and Katie hears an unexpected voice.

Her heart jumps into her throat as Katie almost drops her supply bag to the ground. She regains her composure and makes her way out of the bedroom and down the stairs to see for herself if she's imaging things.

There in the foyer though, red hair shimmering in the light - is Emily Fitch.

Katie finds out later that she's been back in town for over a month and has been friends with Paul, and his wife Carol since coming back. They met during a seminar at a work retreat in Colorado, and have been great friends ever since.

"No wonder you looked so familiar," Paul would joke later over drinks, comparing the likeness and the differences between the two twins.

Katie is mostly quiet during the impromptu reunion with Emily and her friends, as Emily recounts old childhood stories from their youth. As they leave Paul and Carol's together, with Emily walking Katie to the company car, Katie feels completely embarrassed about her job, and what her life has become.

"I missed you, you know," Emily says as she embraces her sister in a hug.

"Yeah."

"We should get together soon."

"Yeah, for sure," Katie says, before ducking into her car, and closing the door shut. Emily bends down to wave Katie good-bye before turning on her heels and heading straight for her own car.

Katie sighs, slamming her head against the steering wheel. Suddenly she hears her cell phone vibrate from her purse. She reaches into her purse to see that Effy sent her a text.

_Got a new job today! Woo hoo! Let's get fucked? Eff xx_

Katie texts back.

_Fuck yeah. See you in a bit K xx_

_..._


	2. Cure For This

**Title:** Trestling Under the Influence  
><strong>Chapter:<strong> Cure For This  
><strong>Rating:<strong> T for swearing and whatnot

**Thanks for all the reviews, and alerts :) Your feedback is always MUCH appreciated. **

**Oh yeah and um this is un-beta'd so yeah… all mistakes are mine.**

* * *

><p>Her head is throbbing when she wakes up. She's spread out on top of Effy who's out cold, and quietly snoring beneath her. She looks at her watch and sees that it's only 5 o'clock in the morning. A cough escapes from her lips, and suddenly Katie feels her stomach twists in an extremely unpleasant way. Quickly, she pushes herself off Effy's tummy with her fist, accidentally waking the girl up as she scrambles over to the trash can just in time for it to come out. She's half balancing on the bed still, and half balancing on the floor with her head in the can when Effy – who's still trapped under her weight – sits up to see what the fuck is going on.<p>

"What the—oh, eww! That's fuckig nasty!" Effy yelps.

If she wasn't so occupied with upchucking, Katie might've told the taller girl to shut the fuck up.

It takes a moment, but Effy decides to be helpful by reaching for a towel from the floor. She hands it to Katie, and gingerly sweeps the smaller girl's her hair back with her free hand.

"I guess we partied a little to hard last night," Effy says, grabbing the end of the towel and dabbing away gently at the wetness next to Katie's mouth.

Her insides continue to swirl, as Katie finishes up, pushing herself off the floor and back onto the bed next to Effy. Effy flinches as she takes a good whiff of her.

"Ugh, you smell rotten."

"Thanks. I appreciate the compliment."

Effy gets up and leaves the room. When she returns, she's got a tall glass of water and a few tabs of Tylenol. Katie forces a smirk, still feeling like shit, "Well I guess you're not completely useless." The pills go down easy, as she pretty much downs the entire glass of water in one gulp.

"Still think you'll be able to work today?"

Her head is still spinning. _Yes_ Katie thinks even though she knows her body is saying _hell no._ She _needs_ to work. Closing her eyes for a moment, she exhales deeply, "Of course."

…

Of course it turns out that Katie wasn't quite finished with vomiting.

With her knees on either side of the porcelain bowl, Katie's puking into a client's toilet. The client, a quiet mousy woman in her late forties, stands back in the hallways outside the bathroom with her mouth agape, and eyes wide open. Effy stands next to the woman, arms cross and failing at containing her amusement.

"Um, Effy is it?"

Effy nods.

"Are you – are you sure your coworker's well enough to be working today?"

"Um, yeah… just, give her a minute." Effy cringes as Katie groans into the toilet again. She pulls the lady aside; steering her attention away from Katie's moment of glory, "Forgive her, really…. She's um – going through _morning sickness_."

The expression on the mousey client's face goes from appalled to congratulatory. (As if everything suddenly makes sense!) She congratulates Effy – who tells the woman not to say anything to Katie about her _pregnancy _because she's shy about these kind of things – and Katie who has no idea what's going on, as the older woman leaves the girls to their _business._

…

However, it seems like Katie needs to pay a visit to the bathroom every two hours.

…

"This is one of the worst days of my life," Katie whines, dropping onto the couch next to Effy, with a duster still in her hand.

Effy laughs. "Well you shouldn't have downed as many drinks as you did last night. Jesus, you drank me under the table. That never happens!"

"Why don't you feel like shit? Why am I the only one that has to suffer?"

"I'm gifted," Effy winks. "Now come on let's stop slacking and let's finish this shit so we can get off work. I'm not even getting paid for this shit."

"Thanks," Katie utters, as she reaches up to rub her temples. "Thanks for helping me out with work today. I can't imagine doing this all by myself while being this fucking hung over."

"Well you know… Sometimes I can be helpful, and not just be a useless tit."

…

After work, when Katie asks Effy later as to what she said to their client to make her be in such a good mood despite her embarrassing behavior, Effy laughs and tells Katie that she told "Old Mousey" that Katie's been knocked up.

"You fucking told her what? I'm not pregnant!"

"Well what did you want me to tell her, that you're performing like shit today cause we were out drinking last night?"

"Effy!"

"Come on Katie, you know it was a brilliant idea."

Katie shakes her head, but hides her smile of approval. She knows Effy's right, but like hell she'd ever give her the satisfaction of knowing that.

…

When night falls, the girls keep things low key, watching TV all night until they both fall asleep.

By the time Katie passes out, her puking routine finally seizes.

…

That is, until the next morning.

…

Her throat burns, as she hovers over the toilet again for the second day in a row.

_What the fuck?_

What is going on? Last night she felt better, and now she is back to feeling like shit again. Was she catching the flu?

She leaves the apartment before Effy could wake up, heading for the drug store. Thank god it was her day off today.

When she asks for some drugs from the pharmacist after giving him her symptoms, he looks at her quizzically.

"What? What is it?" Katie asks.

"When was your last menstrual cycle?"

_Are you fucking kidding me?_

"I'm not pregnant. I'm just under the weather and I need some drugs. So give me what I want and stop wasting my time."

"Look Miss, thing is if you are pregnant I can't give you certain drugs because it might affect the –"

"For fucks sakes! I'm not fucking pregnant," Katie exclaims. She pushes herself away from the counter – away from the pharmacist, and marches out of the drug store in a huff. She's extremely livid. Her hands shake as she reaches into her purse for a cigarette. When she grabs the pack she sees the warning label on the carton, specifically the picture of a pregnant woman and the slogan that pretty much states smoking kills babies. She drops the carton to the ground, as if burned by it.

_I'm not pregnant._

Right?

Suddenly her cellphone goes off, vibrating loudly in her purse, as Katie reaches for it and answers it.

"Hello?"

"Hey," it's Effy, "Where'd you go?"

"Um, I needed to go for walk. Needed some fresh air. I think I'm getting sick actually."

"Oh well, that's too bad," Effy says on the other line. "Well when you come back, you should make me some breakfast, cause I'm starving."

"God you're so lazy," Katie bitches, but smiles. "What would you do with out me?"

"Hmm, well I'd certainly be living on the streets if it weren't for you," Effys begins, humming, "Maybe even die out of a broken heart…. Cause you know I can't live without my Katiekins."

"Don't make me laugh Stonem," she chuckles, loosening up as she almost forgets about her current dilemma. She bends down to pick up her pack of cigarettes, and stuffs it back into her purse.

"Well if you are going to return home, I hope it's sooner than later. I'm starting my new job today, so I'll be leaving soon."

"Fine, I'll guess I'll hurry home to feed your lazy ass."

"Oh Katie, I love you!"

"Fuck off, _dear_."

…

For the next couple of days, Katie continues to convince herself that she's just sick, with the flu. She's not pregnant. Not at all. She and Eric have always been safe anyway, so really there's no chance in hell that's she's with child.

Somewhere in the back of her mind though, there's doubt.

She's not really sure why, or where this doubt comes from – maybe it's due to the fact that based on her track record her life has been full of bad luck during the last five years. Or maybe for some silly, ridiculous reason, she kind of hopes that –

No. _Just_ no.

…

After about a week of morning sickness, Katie loses it. She's tired of hiding from Effy, who is completely oblivious over the whole thing, and has no clue that something's bothering her. (It's starting to be a bit difficult turning Effy down every time she's asked Katie to join her for a smoke or a drink. Just saying she "wants to be a little healthier", or "not while she's still got this god awful flu" just doesn't seem to cut it anymore.)

She's at the same drug store she was at a week ago, looking for pregnancy testers. The same pharmacist from last week is working today, his beady little eyes following her as she walks down the aisles. Katie looks away, ignoring his judgmental gaze as she finds what she's looking for.

She grabs the box, and heads for the cash register.

…

All she wants is a reconfirmation that she is NOT pregnant.

…

She doesn't get it.

…

The entire apartment building hears her from the bathroom as she utters the word FUUUUCK at the top of her lungs. A few more expletives later she's pounding her fists down at the porcelain sink, glaring down at the offensive cross showing on the pregnancy stick hanging out at the bottom of the sink, almost mocking her with the truth.

…

She calls Eric immediately after she remembers this isn't her fault alone.

As soon as he picks up she's drops the bomb immediately. She ignores that fact that she hears kids horsing around in the background as she tears their father's attention away from their playtime.

"I'm fucking pregnant."

"What?"

"I'm pregnant Eric."

"WHAT? Wait."

The phone is muffled, and Katie suddenly hears silence. Suddenly he's back on the phone again, probably in another room by himself, she thinks. "Who the fuck is this?"

_Fucking idiot._

"It's me. Katie." She contemplates whether or not Eric has any other whores on the side, because of his ridiculous question – cause really, who else could be calling him? – but decides she's got way too much on her plate to be thinking about that kind of shit right now.

"Katie! For Christ sakes, why'd you call me at home? What if Heather picked up? I told you not to call me unless it's an emergency."

"I'm pregnant you tit. It is a fucking emergency." She hears him sigh, before he tells her that he'll meet her at _the place._ She doesn't say good-bye or wait for him to tell her good-bye as she ends the call, and picks up her car keys.

…

They sit on opposite sides of the bed, backs facing each other. Not a word has been spoken, since they both arrived at the motel to meet in private to discuss the _situation. _Finally Eric speaks up.

"Are you going to keep it?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Calm down Katie, I'm just asking."

"I don't know."

"Well, I-" He starts, and immediately Katie knows where this is going. Anger surges inside her as she turns around and shoves him off the bed. He falls to the ground shouting in surprise. "Woah, fuck Katie!"

"Fuck you if you're just going to tell me you want nothing to do with this."

"Katie," he sputters, "I've got a wife, and kids…"

She fights the tears that threaten to spill from her eyes. "Fucking should've known you were just another asshole."

He reaches out to try and comfort her but Katie just backs away.

"Look, if it makes you happy, you should just have it—"

"—If it makes me happy?"

Eric sighs, finally getting up from his spot on the floor. "I just, I'm unstable financially. Okay? I want what's best for you."

Katie snorts at his ridiculous claim.

"I just can't support you. Financially."

"You know I should just have this baby, and cut you right out of its life. At least maybe this baby could actually love me for once, since nobody else ever will."

Eric remains silent, not knowing what to say, and his lack of arguing to be in the baby's life just does it for Katie. She rubs at her eyes and quickly grabs her purse to leave. As she reaches for the doorknob, Eric tells her quietly that he's sorry and he supports her in whatever decision she chooses. Just as he's going on about "still wanting to help her while still not being able to give her any money", a thought suddenly pops into Katie's mind.

Clearing her throat, she turns around and faces him, "There is something you can do."

"What's that?" he says, his voice a bit hopeful.

"You know last week… you mentioned how those specialized cleaning guys make so much money…"

…

"Um, no thanks Katie."

"What do you mean 'no thanks'?"

Effy shrugs, and looks at Katie as if she's crazy, "I've got a job now—"

"—Yeah but for how long?" Katie counters, only to receive a icy glare from the brunette. Katie tries again, "Look, come on. After all these years I've been there for you, taken care of you – you could at least do this one thing for me."

"What do you expect me to do? Quit my job? I just started! Isn't that the exact opposite of what you want? Me depending on you again." Effy stubs out her smoke in the ashtray. She gets up from the bench and leans over the balcony, leaving Katie sitting alone.

"I'm not saying you have to quit your job. Just help me try this cleaning shit out for a bit. I just, don't want to do it by myself. It's just until I figure out if it's worth it, and if I can find a partner to work with me."

Her cell phone goes off, alerting her that she's received a text message. Katie flips her phone open and sees that it's from Emily.

"Who's that?" Effy asks.

"Emily."

"You should ask her to join you," Effy jokes.

"Fuck no," Katie retorts, annoyed by Effy's lack of ability to take anything seriously. She slumps back on the bench, sighing as Effy turns around and glares. The brunette groans, pursing her lips as she shoves her hands into her pockets.

"Fine. I'll take a couple days off."

She tackles Effy so hard in a hug they almost fall over the balcony.

…

**Yay for some happy Katie and Effy moments :)! Review, review, review please! Your feedback fuels my muse.** **Also**, **sorry if my grammar is crap…. If anyone cares to beta, haha…. Yeah…**


	3. Bloody Bathroom

**Title:** Trestling Under the Influence  
><strong>Chapter:<strong> Bloody Bathroom  
><strong>Rating:<strong> T for swearing and whatnot****  
><strong>Disclaimer:** Right, I think I may have forgotten to have one of these in my previous chapters. So – I don't own Skins, nor do I own Sunshine Cleaning. I just like to borrow the character to fulfill my fantasies! :)

**Wow I think it's been over half a year since my last update? Sorry guys! My line of work is the kind that completely takes over my life, until my contracts up. It's part of the reason why I disappeared off the face of the planet months ago, to reappear out of the blue. Now all of a sudden I have all this free time to read/review fics, and get back into writing, which I guess is a yay!**

**Anyway, for those that have been waiting – this is for you :) And for new readers – welcome!**

**This is un-beta'd so all mistakes are mine.**

* * *

><p>A large bellied hairy man named Larson leads Katie and Effy up a flight of stairs in the apartment building. (He apparently works for the landlady.) Beads of sweat drip down his fat, greasy face as he talks to the girls. "Some sorta domestic disturbance kind of deal. It was the lady who got the last word I guess."<p>

Katie glances over at Effy, sharing a look. They both look away as they follow the large, sweaty man and listen to him blabber nonstop.

"Course she's in jail now… I heard one bullet completely shot off his ring finger."

They follow him out the stairwell exit, and come into a hallway. The first door they see in the hall appears to be their destination. Larson digs around for the keys, as Katie plays with the strap of her duffle bag (which is packed with cleaning products, and gear). She looks up and sees Effy watching her. Her arms are cross, as she wags her eyebrows and gives Katie a half smile. Katie in turn grins right back at her. Larson finds the key that he's looking for and begins to unlock the door.

"So uh, how long have you gals been doin' this kind of work?"

The door unlocks swiftly, as he steps aside and let's the girls walk in.

"A while," Katie replies.

She takes a look at the apartment; dirty dishes, and clothes clutter the suite at every corner. She figures that if it had been tidied up, it'd actually be a cozy little apartment. Something her parents might've been comfortable living in, maybe? She turns back to Larson, and frowns when she catches him checking her out.

"You know Eric pretty well?" he asks, obviously trying to downplay being caught red handed.

Effy shoots her a look, but Katie doesn't answer as she zips her jacket all the way up, covering her cleavage.

_Pervert._

He brushes it off, turns around and makes his way to the door, "Well, just swing by the office when you're done and we'll settle up."

As he leaves, the girls are left staring at one another.

"Well," Katie starts, "Shall we?" She motions for Effy to lead them to _the room._ Effy nods and guides them out of the living room-kitchen area. It isn't until the girls get to the bathroom – the actual room of the murder _– that it really hits home_. They stand frozen at the threshold, awe struck by the horrible scene in front of them.

Dried blood covers the tile walls in huge splatters. It gathers in sticky, reddish brown lines around the grout. The mirror is shattered, and the blood soaked shower curtain lay half torn on the linoleum floor next to the toilet bowl, which is also stained with blood.

Katie hears Effy swallow hard beside her.

"Think they loved each other?"

Katie really has no idea what to say, clearing her throat. "Uh, yeah."

…

Katie's wiping at the dried blood, pooled around the base of the toilet bowl. She glances over at Effy, and quirks her eyebrow. Pinkish foam slides down Effy's yellow cleaning gloves as she scrubs at the bloodied grout with a toothbrush with one hand, and sprays more cleaner with her other hand.

"A toothbrush, Eff… really?"

"Hey, it's working," Effy defends, pointing at the tiny bristle . "It's very precise… and thorough."

Katie snorts, as she continues to scrub around the toilet bowl. After a methodical wipe down, the toilet bowl and the surrounding floor around it is finally back to squeaky clean. She gets up and grabs the dirty shower curtain, and takes a deep look at it, debating whether or not to toss it or clean it up. Effy, who's still diligently scrubbing away at the tile wall notices Katie deep in thought.

"I'd toss it. It's too much work to clean it."

"And what, buy a new one? With our disposable income?" Katie says, skeptical at Effy's suggestion. Effy recognizes the flaw in her plan, as she pauses mid stroke.

"Right."

Katie exhales, "Well I guess I'll just soak the curtain in the tub. So hurry up with the damn wall already."

Effy gives her a look.

"What?"

"This is fucking disgusting. I'd rather go crawling back to my parents, to live my old privileged life."

"You don't really mean that, do you?"

Effy groans, "I'm just bitching Katie."

"Well hurry the fuck up already."

"I'm hurrying!" Effy exclaims, scrubbing away with her toothbrush. Katie laughs, putting the shower curtain aside before joining Effy in the tub to help her.

"Give me that," the smaller girl says, as she takes the cleaner from Effy and sprays more onto the wall before scrubbing away.

Hours later, the girls finally finish the bathroom.

"Fuck that took forever," Effy says, as Katie nods in agreement before bending down to pick up some dirty towels from the floor.

"You should take these towels and stick them in the laundry."

…

Larson shows up later to take a look at their work. He purses his lips, and nods satisfied with the cleaning job done in the bathroom.

"You gals did a real nice job."

He whips out his chequebook, signs it and hands it to Katie. As he leads the way out, Katie turns around and flashes the cheque at Effy who's eyes widen at the amount written on the piece of paper. She pumps her fist in the air, and mouths a silent "cha-ching" as Katie does her best not to giggle too loudly.

…

The _job_ isn't bad to say the least.

After the initial shock wears off, cleaning up the scene of a murder was just like cleaning up anywhere else. It was just maybe a bit filthier, and yeah okay _someone did died_. She definitely had to wear clothes she didn't think twice about burning and rubber gloves were more than essential.

The only thing that left her second-guessing her decision to enter this line of work was how the effects of breathing in all the chemicals from the cleaning products would affect _the baby._ It still blew her mind when she thinks about how she's actually knocked up, that she's going to have _a baby_. What's more shocking of course (and not in an alarming sense) is how much she _gives a shit_. It's like everyday she cares a bit more, than the previous. It's exactly the reason why she decides to take a secret trip to the walk-in clinic alone, while Effy is out during their day off.

What threw her off was the familiar face that happened to be her walk-in doctor.

"Naomi?" she feels her cheeks begin to heat up, as the blonde in turn tries to suppress the blush creeping up on her own face. The sudden impromptu reunion, was a bit of a shock to both of them, considering the last time they were in each other's presence it was most definitely _not a defining moment for Katie.._. Clearing her throat, she wills the awful memory away, and surprisingly it works.

It takes a moment for the blonde to regain her own composure, before she shakes her head waking up from her stupor to finally greet Katie with a smile.

"Katie, it's been awhile hasn't it," Naomi opens her chart, "How have you been?"

"Fine," Katie replies as she watches Naomi's eyes bug out while she reads her medical information.

Katie decides to cut to the chase. "Yeah, so like I'm pregnant."

"Yes you are," the blonde affirms slowly.

"I'm here because I need to know what I'm fucking doing."

"Um, well I'm sure you know I'm pro-choice Katie-"

"I know I'm having this baby you idiot. I mean, I wanna know what the pre-cautions are? What do I need to do so that this baby is born healthy?"

"Oh, right," Naomi says.

They go over a list of the usual things, mainly read off a pamphlet that one of Naomi's assistants brings in; no alcohol, lots of good nights sleep, healthy eating, and of course daily exercise goes a long way for both the mother and the baby.

Katie subtly asks about how cleaning will be different, which only confuses Naomi. She elaborates in detail specifically asking the blonde about the smell of chemicals, and what touching the substances with her bare skin might cause. Naomi looks at her funny and says, "Well unless you're a hippy who only prefers to use green, natural or organic products most household cleaning products should be fine. Obviously toxic chemicals found in some of the heavy-duty products are things you should avoid whether or not you're pregnant or not pregnant. It's common sense, Katie."

"What if I wore gloves, or a mask?"

"Well sure, that could help, but I'd advise that it's best to avoid any toxic chemicals to begin with." She pauses to think about Katie's inquiries. "Why are you asking me these questions?"

"Nothing. It's nothing."

Naomi scrutinizes her for a moment, before deciding to let it go. They continue their talk.

…

She gets home and calls Eric up again.

"Hey, I went to the clinic today. I found out things like what I need to be doing so that the baby's born healthy. I don't even know why I'm telling you this because you obviously don't give a shit."

The front door swings open, as Effy slips in and hears the tail end of the conversation.

"Anyway I've got to go." Katie pauses as she contemplates out how to end the phone call. She ends up saying nothing and hanging up – Eric deserves as much.

When she looks up, Effy's eyes are staring intently into her own, as if trying to figure out what the phone call was about. Whatever questions the other girl had, they disappear as she broke eye contact, and heads to the fridge.

Katie sighs, relieved. She isn't prepared for the pregnant talk with Effy just yet.

"We have a problem," Effy states loudly from the kitchen.

"What's that?"

"We need food. There's nothing to eat."

"Well let's go shopping."

…

They're turning into the cereal aisle when Katie sees a flash of red all the way down the other end. The girl turns around giving Katie a better look – confirming that she's exactly who she doesn't want to see right now. She turns the cart abruptly, which doesn't go unnoticed by her tall companion.

"Got some sort of hate on for cereal now?"

"I just forgot that we need more…"

"We need more what?"

They slip into the canned food section. Katie quickly picks out a can of beans.

"Beans," she proclaims. Effy looks at her as if she's crazy. She then calls Katie out on her charade. "Are we avoiding someone?"

"Effs, please just give me a break."

Effy drops it, as they continue to shop.

It's only when they're outside that they run into Emily in the parking lot.

"Katie!"

She groans, before she turns and makes a sulking face at her best friend. Effy herself is not pleased, but Katie knows that her anger is actually directed it her, and not at her sister.

The redhead approaches, unaware of the tension between the girls, "Oh hey Effy. How's it going?"

"It's all right."

"I didn't know you girls still lived together."

"We do."

They continue to talk for a moment. Plain old simple small talk that Katie half listens to. She lets her sister carry most of the conversation with Effy, which is a sight to see because Effy doesn't talk very much to begin with. When she zones back in on the discussion though, she eye rolls when it dawns on her that Emily is trying _to talk Effy up._

"You're looking really good Eff."

Puh-lease. She stares daggers at her twin, who looks back at her uncaring that Katie has a problem with her hitting on her best friend. Effy meanwhile is charming and polite, as she replies back with a 'Thanks'.

There's an awkward pause, before Emily reignites the conversation again.

"So what do you girls do for fun these days?" The question is clearly directed at Effy, as the younger twin gazes at the brunette, waiting for a reply. As luck would have it, Katie's phone begins to ring. It's Eric. She answers the phone with a quick, 'What do you want?'

"Hey babe, it's me. Look sorry for not picking up earlier I've just been super busy at work."

"Look, I'm just in the middle of something. Can we talk later?" She looks between her sister and Effy.

"Sure, I just wanted to let you know that I do care too. All right? I do. And I've got another job for you gals."

…

The one good thing about Eric's phone call was that it gave the girls a good reason to cut their mini meet up with Emily short. So with a quick wave, Emily bids the girls farewell, as she heads to her vehicle.

The girls load up their groceries in silence – Effy is obviously still mad at her.

It makes things difficult between them during the extremely quiet ride home. When they come to a stoplight, the burgundy haired twin decides to spark up some conversation.

"So you don't have any plans, right? 'Cause Eric's got us a job again."

"Yeah whatever," Effy says quickly, not even looking at her.

"Eff, what's wrong? Why're you so mad?"

Effy snorts, but continues to remain quiet.

The light turns green, but Katie isn't paying attention. She's too set on making things right with Effy, that she doesn't hear the horn blaring behind them.

"It's fucking green, Katie," Effy says crudely, finally looking over.

Katie frowns, sighing before stepping on the gas.

After a minute Effy finally speaks up: "I hate when you keep things from me."

A pang of guilt, hits Katie, and she almost feels like telling Effy about the pregnancy. She doesn't as they continue the drive home in utter silence.

…

After dropping off their groceries and changing their clothes, the girls are back on the road again, heading off to their next job. It's apparently located at some seedy trailer park in the rough side of town.

Following directions she wrote down on a pad of paper, Katie drives down the highway for quite a bit before turning off at the directed exit. It appears that from the turn off, they're only a few blocks away from the trailer park, as the sign, 'Sunnyside Estate' comes into view. Katie pulls into the park, passing trailer, after trailer, before finally approaching a particularly run down mobile.

"How long is this gonna take?" Effy asks, bored. Sensing no more venom in her voice, Katie hopes that it means Effy's forgiven her, or moved on from their earlier spat.

"All we have to do is get in, and throw everything out. It's quite simple."

Effy nods, but it's obvious by the look in her eyes that she's skeptical.

They enter the trailer and the smell of rancid, decayed flesh fills their nostrils. Effy starts gagging, as they both use their t-shirts to cover their noses. Old newspapers are stacked to the ceiling, if not thrown all over the place. Every corner seems to be cluttered with random trash, and crusty dishes.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watches Effy opens the bedroom door and peek her head in. Flies buzz by, as Effy dashes to another room and retches.

"Lovely," Katie says under her breath. She goes to Effy, "Now we're gonna have to clean that up too." She leaves Effy alone, and goes to see the bedroom for herself. The smell alone as she approaches teases her gag reflex, as she blanches. She closes her eyes to maintain focus, before turning around to leave the room. Effy brushes past her heading to the front door.

Alarmed, Katie follows after. The sun is bright and blinding as the smaller girl calls out after the taller one: "Where do you think you're going?"

A couple neighbors look up from their yards, watching the spectacle.

Effy spins around, not caring that they're causing a bit of a scene, "There is no way." She shakes her head.

Katie is desperate as she pleads, "Effs. You promised me."

Effy continues to shake her head. She turns her back on the shorter girl, staring at the car, wishing she were in it and on the way home.

"Please," Katie begs. She steps closer, her hand reaches out to try and turn her best friend around to face her but it drops at the last second.

She watches as Effy's shoulder lift up as the brunette inhales deeply before exhaling very gradually. Without turning around to face her, Effy gives in, "Maybe if you bought me a coffee. And some cigarettes."

Katie breaks out in the happiest smile ever, as she hugs her from behind.

…

The girls take off both their shirts and wrap it around their faces like scarves. They look like a duo of weird latex gang members, in their tiny tank tops, gumboots, and rubber gloves.

Once they're ready to go, the girls quickly start cleaning. Maybe it was their frantic need to get the job done as fast as possible because of the repulsive smell, but the hours fly by as the girls get a lot of work done.

Later, with her hands full black garbage bags, Effy stops by the bedroom, and stares at the filthy mattress.

"What do we do with that?"

Katie comes over to see what she's talking about. She sees the mattress and shrugs.

"Dumpster?"

Effy sets the garage bags down by the front door with the rest of the pile before going back to the bedroom to help Katie pick up the soiled mattress. With their rubber gloves they drag it to the door.

Ignoring the stares from the neighbors, the girls drag the cushion through the compound towards the dumpster. It's a struggle as they clumsily toss it into the bin. Katie almost falls in with the mattress but Effy catches her, as they both fall backwards onto the ground with Katie on top.

…

Progress has been made as the girls are down to the last remaining stages of cleaning the trailer.

"It seems wrong, doesn't it?" Effy says, but Katie doesn't register her words as she sees a tattered fanny pack. She reaches for it and tosses it into the garbage can. Effy plucks it out and examines it. She finds a photo identification card. "I bet this is her."

Again, her remark falls on deaf ears as Katie continues picking up garbage.

Effy continues to dig deeper into the fanny pack and pulls out a small packet wrapped in satin ribbon. When unwrapped, she discovers that it contains some old school pictures. She flips through seeing photos of young children. She then stops at a picture of a teen girl.

"Jesus Christ Effy, have some respect for the dead and leave their shit alone."

"And what? Throwing all her belongings out is any better?"

She makes a valid point, but it's really _not_ _their problem._

"Do you think this is her daughter? Shouldn't we try and find her, and tell her what happened?"

Katie shrugs. "Effy, it's not our job." She finishes picking up the remainder of the trash, and moves to grab the broom that's leaning up against the wall. As she sweeps, Effy stands there, letting Katie's words sink in. When the smaller girl's back is turned, she tucks the packet into her back pocket, before proceeding to help Katie finish cleaning.

…

It was after the trailer job that the girls figured out that they were completely out of their league. It appeared that some of the jobs they were going to do weren't as simple as picking up clutter, and wiping off a day olds blood from the kitchen counter. So, Katie immediately got on the phone with a gentleman named Winston, a local manager of a cleaning supply store. He suggested that they came down to his shop to meet him in person, so that it was much easier for him to help them out with their situation.

When they get to the store, a lanky man with unruly black locks, and scruffy facial hair greets them at the door.

"Hi… Winston?"

"Yes that's me. Hello there."

"I spoke with you on the phone earlier. Katie Fitch?"

"Oh yes, I remember, the decomp right?"

"Yes, that's it."

He leads the girls through the store, as he lists off and point to the various products that his shop happens to stock.

"We carry both the Winzyme and the DR 450. Disinfectants, stain removers, and shampoos. Steamers, buffers, foggers, which are available for rent or purchase." He stops at a large bag that looks as if it contains sand, and adds: "Here we have some quick absorbing sawdust, which is great for vomit."

Katie shares a look with Effy, who reaches up to try and conceal her chuckle, which doesn't go unnoticed by Winston. He stares at the girls for a moment, before continuing on with his schpeel. The tour ends at the back corner of the store where respirators, safety glasses, heavy duty gloves, and coveralls fill the shelves.

"And here we have all your personal protective gear."

The door to the backroom opens abruptly as a skinny brown haired girl brushes past the three.

Winston stops mid-conversation and calls out to the waifish girl, "Hey Sophia, you're back from your break right? Mind hanging out by the till while I help these ladies?"

Sophia nods, before heading off to the counter.

As Katie turns her attention back to Winston's boring explanation of his products, she notices a weird expression on Effy's face. It's as if she's seen a _ghost_.

…

**Hopefully it won't take ages before the next update lol. Maybe it'll help if you all reviewed this and DEMAND that you want more! :)**


	4. Perfect Days

**Title:** Trestling Under the Influence  
><strong>Chapter:<strong> Perfect Days  
><strong>Rating:<strong> T for swearing and whatnot****  
><strong>Disclaimer:** I don't own Skins, nor do I own Sunshine Cleaning.

**That's right, another update in less than a day! Who rocks? Yeah – me.**

**All right so this chapter is a tiny bit shorter than my usual but I just needed to get it out. Besides I'm only down by like thirty words or so, so don't complain :P I really wanted to send this out because as of last night I have big plans for some future chapters. Big, SEXY plans if you know what I mean ;) So stay tuned and be patient! Of course, reviewing and begging for me to get on this shit ALMOST ALWAYS helps. The more reviews, the faster I type?**

**This chapter is dedicated to **_**Ry**_**, **_**ameliamoriarty**_**, and of course my lovely **_**reddawg82**_**. **

* * *

><p>It's been getting harder and harder to hide her pregnancy from Effy. She wonders if Effy knows, but isn't saying anything. The girl has always been clever like that. Sometimes Katie catches her staring at her from across the room with a puzzled expression on her face, as if she's analyzing her – figuring her out. She wonders if in those moments, if Effy's putting the pieces together. One side of her wishes she could just be honest with her, but the other side is still so fearful of how she'll react – <em>even if she knows<em> that Effy's reaction to finding out that she's been keeping this from her _will be more than a million times worse_. She can't bring herself to do it though; she's just so far deep in this mess – beyond the point of no return.

Things with Eric aren't better. He's promised to make an effort in their relationship – _whatever that means_ – but he's still with his wife and kids, leaving Katie's still number three or four on his list of priorities. The only thing he's been good for these days is helping the girls find jobs for their post-mortem cleaning business – which is actually doing _quite well_. Well enough that she's been able to start paying off quite a bit of her debt, and even saving a bit of money here and there.

She glances down at her watch checking the time, as she sits alone in the motel room waiting for Eric. After another half an hour of sitting around, she's livid, and decides to abolish the planned meet up. _Fuck him_ if he was going to be this uncouth, and stand her up – again. Some days she wished she were more like Emily because the men in her life have been _completely useless_. It drives her mad because she finds it tremendously ignorant when she hears straight girls joke about it (or even _not joke about it_)when the men in their lives have scorned them.

…

She comes home to Effy lounging on the couch, with a half empty bottle of beer in her hands. She sits up to greet the twin with a smile, "Well that was definitely a quickie."

"Yeah well the asshole didn't show up," Katie says, kicking off her heels.

"Shitty," Effy says. She grabs an unopened bottle of beer off the coffee table and offers it to Katie. The smaller girl waves it away, as she sits down next to her and sulks. Effy wraps an arm around her shoulder, as Katie leans into the hug.

"Hey Katie," Effy starts, "You know that girl that works with Winston at the store?"

"Yeah what about her?"

"Well remember that trailer we cleaned up a couple weeks back? I think she's the dead woman's daughter."

Katie knows where this conversation is going, and she really doesn't like it one bit. She glares at the brunette, breaking away from her embrace: "Don't even fucking think about it."

"What? I didn't even say anything –"

Katie cuts her off, "—Yeah but I know what you're thinking, Effy. I know how you work."

The taller girl sighs, putting her bottle down to throw her arms up in the air in protest, "It's not right. Sophia's a nice girl. She deserves to know what happened to her mother."

Katie opens her mouth to tell her how completely wrong she is, and how it's not her place to tell Sophia, but then feels a sudden wave of nausea hit her hard. She gags. Effy's eyes bug out at her random dry heaving, as Katie feels the bile rising up in her throat – it's enough to send her running to the bathroom.

With both hands on either side of the toilet bowl, Katie pukes. She hears footsteps approach her from behind, as Effy asks gently, "Are you all right?"

She shakes her head in response, feeling a moment of calmness that is short-lived as she feels another round of upchucking take over her.

Effy grimaces: "Katie, I really need you tell me if something's up. Okay?"

After a few more minutes, the smaller girl's stomach seems to have settled down. She grabs some toilet paper and wipes her mouth, as she sits back from the bowl. She reaches out and pushes the lever down, flushing the toilet. Looking up at Effy, she nods, "Look I'm just sick. I think I ate something earlier today or last night that was bad, maybe expired."

Effy sighs. Katie knows that she's getting fed up with this. It's why she appreciates it when the girl changes the subject, "I quit my job by the way. So now you have a full time partner." She smiles lamely, as the burgundy haired girl squeals with joy, and hugs her best friend.

…

She'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit that Effy's theory that Sophia was the trailer park woman's daughter didn't pique her curiosity one bit. She goes to the cleaning supply store to investigate, to see if Effy was completely out of her mind, or actually quite dead on.

When she gets to the store, she finds the skinny girl by the back, putting some coveralls away on the shelf. Apparently Winston had left her in charge, as he's out on an errand.

"Do you know if he'll be back soon?"

"Yeah he called about five minutes ago. Said he'll be back in about ten."

"Great," Katie pauses, watching Sophia realign the coveralls on the shelf. "So, how are you?"

She can see it on the other girl's face that she's a little taken back by Katie's sudden urge to have small talk with her, but she's obviously more gracious than girls like Katie will ever be, as she replies back with a lovely smile, "I'm okay. Just working. Same old, same old, you know?"

"Yeah," Katie says with a fake giggle. "I know I totally enjoy my days off."

Sophia nods slowly.

"I like to spend time with my family you know? On… my… days off."

"Mmhmm," the other girl says, nodding again with Katie almost forcefully this time. _You probably don't even give a shit,_ the twin thinks. She feels like a complete idiot – like all those annoying girls that insist upon keeping stupid small talk going because they hate the sound of silence. It's one of Katie's biggest pet peeves, and to be doing it right now _just kills her._ She continues anyway as she tries to subtly urge Sophia to reveal more about her family, "Yeah, like my sister, Emily. Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah I've got an older brother, Matt. We don't talk much though."

"I see," Katie says. She clears her throat, "Do you uh, still live at home?"

"No, actually I live on my own with my roommate. I've been on my own since I gradated college. About maybe two three years ago."

"I see," Katie replies back lamely. She wants to ask her about her mom, but is afraid that she'll come off too suspicious. Thankfully, it's as if Sophia has read her mind, because she goes off and talks about her mother anyway, "I don't really get along with my mom so much. We don't really keep in touch."

"Well that's too bad. I guess I don't talk to my mom either. I think it's actually normal."

The door opens, and in comes Winston returning from his errand. Thank fuck for his impeccable timing.

"Oh look, Winston's back. I'll talk to you later, all right?"

"Take care, Katie."

"Yeah you too." With a quick wave, she heads over to Winston, as he's unpacking a few items behind the counter. He smiles at her, as she approaches, "Afternoon, Katie. How're you doing?"

"I'm great, I came to show you some business cards."

She digs into her purse, and pulls out a tiny fistful of cards. They're plain, boring, and cheap looking. They look as if they were done up on some word processing program at home _– _which in fact they werethanks to Eric.

"Sunshine Cleaning. Nice."

"Yeah, Effy and I figured we'd put a positive spin on things. Mind if I put a few cards by the register?"

"Yeah sure, why not," he says, nodding enthusiastically as he takes the cards from Katie and places them neatly next to the cash register. "You girls should really market yourselves."

"Oh, how would we do that?"

"Well, you want to try and get an in with like funerals homes, and property managers. Oh, and definitely insurance companies. They can throw you a ton of work."

The idea thrills her. If Winston was right, the girls could really make a killing with their business. She really hopes so. Since starting the business – and other than Eric being a complete asshole – life started to feel less shitty for Katie. Like she was actually accomplishing something, and she had something to look forward to. _Quite a few things actually_. She touches her belly with a smile.

"You ladies are B.B.P certified right?"

"B.B. what?" Katie deadpans.

"Blood Born Pathogens. The big money jobs… they'll expect you to be certified."

_Of course they needed to be certified,_ she thinks. She guesses that she was expecting way too much if she thought it was going to be this easy.

Winston perks her back up, "I can register you for the next seminar if you want?"

She doesn't have to think twice. "That'd be great."

…

With the expanding business, the girls needed to get a bigger vehicle to travel in. So they decided to go to the nearby auto mart to find a second hand van.

"It's a real growth industry." Katie explains to the car lot owner, as he takes them over to the large vehicle section of the lot. He's a nice older gentleman with white hair, a potbelly, and a receding hairline.

"Well frankly dear, it sounds like the kind of work I wouldn't expect such lovely ladies like yourselves to be involved in."

"We're tough girls." Effy interjects with a shrug.

The man laughs, "I'm sure you are."

They approach an old slightly rusted white van. It looks to be in fairly decent condition, except for a few scratches, and slight rusting on the front bumper.

The girls ask how much it is going to cost them and are semi-relieved to hear that the van is just over two grand. It is in their budget range, but still a little too high. Since they're kind of just starting their company, they can't risk blowing all their money on a vehicle – even if it is an investment.

"Is there any way you could drop the price for us a bit?"

He laughs, "Ladies that's the floor right there. I'm actually taking a loss on this to make room for some more product."

The girls frown at the same time, but Katie continues to barter with the man, "Well what if we paid with cash?"

The man considers it for a moment, his brow furrowing. "Well cash _is good_."

Effy walks over to the back of the vehicle, and notices a dent in the bumper. She pipes in, "Well what about the back bumper? There's an obvious dent right here. It's not something you can easily hide."

Katie then adds, "And what about the slight rusting? There's like a bit of rust all over this van."

He sighs, contemplating for a moment. "Well you have me ladies. What if I dropped it to eighteen hundred, even?"

The girls beam in unison, accepting the deal.

…

The sun is setting, as the girls drive home in their brand new van. Well brand new in a second hand 'I just bought this' kind of way.

This time Effy's in the driver's seat, which Katie is a bit nervous about because Effy rarely drives. She actually doesn't trust Effy with a lot of things. The only real thing that Katie trusts Effy with is maybe her loyalty factor as friends. So much as Effy fucked up in everything else, Katie could always count on Effy to be there for her whenever she needed someone emotionally. It's why they've been together since they met during their first year in high school.

They hit a curb, and the girls bounce in their sets. Katie glares at the brunette, who shrugs with a sly smile. After a beat, Effy quickly glances back at Katie, "I'm going out tonight. I think you should come."

She dreads it every time Effy asks her to go because of the inevitable no answer, and the repetitive argument that follows suit. She's quite sure that Effy's annoyed and weary over listening to the same sorry excuses – just as much as she is sick and tired of spewing them. "Thanks but I'm kind of exhausted. I'll probably just stay home tonight."

Effy scoffs, as she gives her a look.

"What?"

"Again. You're going to stay home, _again_."

Katie cringes, "So?"

"So? Katie, we haven't gone out together in weeks," Effy complains.

Katie laments, "What's wrong with staying at home?" She hates herself for being so lame, even if she is lying. Really, if she were Effy she would've lost it by now with how many times she's regurgitated the same pathetic reasons to be a loner over and over again.

"I just feel like you're always home. It's like you never want to do anything fun anymore. You don't even have a beer with me, _when I am home_. I think you really need to relax and have a good time."

Katie tries to think of a way out of this conversation without rehashing the same shit that she's been saying like, _'She just doesn't feel up to it', or 'She's really is exhausted'. _Sighing, she knows that whatever she says it's still going to come off extremely petty,"What if I've just grown out of it?"

"Oh so you're saying you're better than me then?" Effy argues, getting even more pissed off at the tinier girl.

"That's not what I'm saying," Katie quickly defends. She looks up in time to see an upcoming stop sign. "And I hope you see that stop sign."

Effy slams on the breaks, both girls thrusting forward at the impact. _Thank fuck for seat belts, _Katie thinks as she sits back. An elderly woman crosses the street, shaking her head at the duo as she walks by. With a charming smile Effy flips the woman off, causing the old gal to gasp in shock while Katie laughs at the sight.

As her laughter dies off, she notices the other girl sitting there thinking to herself. A beat later, she awakens from her quiet musings. Effy slowly steps down on the gas, gently accelerating, and they're on the move again.

"And by the way," Katie starts, "I have gone out a few times. Remember, Eric? I've at least seen him twice in the last week and a half."

"Fine," Effy says. She purses her lips, "Is it Eric then? Is he responsible for you suddenly turning into a boring straight? Honestly I think you should leave him. You could do way better than that dick."

"No," Katie lies with a small smile. She's filled with a tiny burst of happiness to know that her friend thinks that even she deserves better than Eric. Unfortunately unlike Katie, Effy's not smiling. She gives up prying on Katie (like always) as she quietly drives the girls home. It makes Katie just loathe herself, feeling so guilt-stricken over lying so much. Thing is, she knows it won't last long. That once the truth is out – it's going to _be very ugly_.

…

As soon as they get home, they immediately unwind on the couch. Effy figures it's a better idea to pre-drink at home before heading out to the party. She's decided to go out with or without Katie, and doesn't bother heckling the girl for being a lame ass. They're both lying together on opposite ends of the couch, both girls gazing up at the ceiling above. It sucked sometimes that the girls were so broke that they couldn't afford cable, let alone a television. Sometimes if Eric was nice enough, he would lend her his laptop so that the girls would be able to watch DVDs.

The brunette interrupts her thoughts, "By the way, real subtle today."

"Hmm?"

"You, investigating Sophia."

What the fuck? How would - "How would you know?"

Effy says nothing as she takes a sip from her beer bottle.

It dawns on Katie that Sophia might've said something to Effy, but why would they even be talking, unless – "Oh my god, don't tell me you're friends with her?" she sits up on the couch and gawks at the taller girl.

"Maybe."

She can't believe her. That Effy is crazy enough to befriend a girl they barely knew so that she could let her know that her mother dropped dead in her ramshackle trailer. Besides, from what Katie gathers Sophia might not want to know. Based on her conversation from earlier, she feels like Sophia might even dislike her own mother. "That's just sick Effy."

"What? How's that sick."

"You should just leave the poor girl alone. You know nothing about history or her family."

Effy sits up, slamming her beer bottle on the table in front of them, extremely annoyed with Katie and her accusations. "You know mind your own business Katie. I'll do whatever the fuck I want." She gets up and retreats to her room, leaving Katie alone. She ends up staying in her room until her cab arrives. As she angrily puts her boots on, she ignores Katie and leaves without a good-bye.

…

**Sorry for all the mistakes, I like rushed through this so that I could post it up right away. Don't hate!**


	5. Past Memories, To The East

**Title:** Trestling Under the Influence  
><strong>Chapter:<strong> Past Memories/To The East  
><strong>Rating:<strong> T for swearing and sexual content****  
><strong>Disclaimer:** I don't own Skins, nor do I own Sunshine Cleaning.

**As per usual, this is unbeta'd. Seriously if anyone wants to volunteer his or her precious time to beta this – I would love it! Plus it's like you get a sneak peek at the story before it's even posted! I might even take your feedback into consideration and do one final revision before the final posting :)**

**As I've told my friend reddawg82 the other night, I've got a surprise coming up soon. It'll probably happen during the 'sexy time' chapter. Hehe. I think a lot of you will love me for it. Anyone want to take guesses on what it could be?**

* * *

><p>The subject of Sophia isn't brought up again for a while. Both girls avoid speaking to one another and it causes working together to be a bit difficult. It also makes for awkward situations when they go to the store to pick up supplies – Effy evades socializing with Sophia, and Katie pretends not to notice. Eventually both girls bring their guards down, retreating from their separate corners and reverting back to being friends again – and it's <em>just a relief. <em>Being away from each other only made Katie feel less whole, like a part of her was missing. Now that they're together again, she feels complete _– like this was how it should always be_.

…

After a long week and three big jobs, the girls decide to stay in on a Saturday night to watch a couple of old DVDs. (Eric had conveniently lent Katie his laptop when she asked if she could edit the business cards he had made for the girls.) Bored, Katie waits for Effy in the living room, as the brunette makes microwave popcorn in the kitchen. "What do you want to watch?" she yells from the couch.

"Did Eric lend us any action movies?" Effy shouts back.

Katie scoffs, crossing her arms, "Ugh, I'm not in the mood for some dumb action movie."

"Well do you want to watch a drama?"

She considers the idea for a moment, before she replies, "Nah, let's watch something cute, and romantic!"

Effy laughs, "Why do you even bother asking me if you're not going to listen to my suggestions anyway?" The bell on the microwave goes off with a DING! Effy takes the steaming hot bag out of the microwave, and dumps the kernels into a big bowl. She heads to the living room, and sits next to the shorter girl, putting the popcorn down on the table.

"Mmkay, so let's watch…" Katie starts, as she lays out a few DVDs on the coffee table next to the laptop. There are a couple romantic comedies, an action film, and a couple of dramas. She decides to go for one of the comedies – something with Ryan Reynolds in it – and opens up the case. She flips Eric's laptop open and hits the eject button. Her face goes beet red, when she reads the title of the disc that's ejected. When Effy herself takes a gander, she immediately howls in laughter.

"What the fuck? The Dykes of Hazzard?" Effy hoots. She grabs the DVD, and takes a closer look at it.

Katie snatches the movie right out of Effy's hands, "What a fucking loser."

"He would watch lesbian porn," Effy jokes, as Katie's still burning red. "Maybe we should watch this instead?"

The burgundy haired girl glares at her friend, with a far from amused expression on her face, "There is no fucking way."

"Oh what, like you've never watched porn before," Effy's eyes bore into hers, as she smiles at the shorter girl mischievously. Katie fights not to smile back, but fails as she feels a bashful grin spreading across her face. She clears her throat, "I don't mind porn, I just don't watch it with friends," she clarifies. Effy rolls her eyes, as the twin adds, "And it's lesbian."

The brunette snorts, "So? What are you scared that you might get a little turned on?" She waggles her eyebrows at the Katie, who shoves her playfully.

"You're such a moron."

Effy laughs, "Fine, okay…. We won't watch porn." She grabs the offending DVD out from Katie's hands and sets it on the table. They pop in the other disc and settle in their seats. When the opening credits begin, Katie hears Effy giggle beside her. She ignore it at first, but when it appears that the other girl isn't going to stop, Katie addresses the situation, "WHAT?"

"Nothing." She's lying and Katie knows it. She pauses the movie. "Come on seriously, Eff. Either shut up and watch the movie, or say what's on your mind."

The taller girl coughs into her fist, thinking her response through before asking Katie subtlety, "Well… have you ever… done anything?" She looks away from Katie, avoiding eye contact.

She knows exactly what Effy means, but beats around the bush anyway, "What do you mean?"

"I mean with girls…? I know your sister's gay—"

Katie immediately cuts in, "And I'm NOT." Effy gapes at her teasingly. Leaning back on the couch she ponders for a moment, before saying, "Hmm, well I think I do want to see what it's like to kiss a girl."

She stares at Katie seductively, and leans in for a kiss, but Katie shoves her back, "Fuck off."

Effy laughs.

"Well since I love bursting your bubble – it's no big deal. Kissing a girl is nothing special, it's like kissing boys except girls have softer lips and no stubble or facial hair."

She shouldn't expect any less when Effy's eyes bug out at the revelation. The brunette grabs at her, like an excited teenage girl, "Really? What the fuck – when was this? Where was I?"

"Well it was after high school at a party, so you were already out of town," she says, detaching herself from Effy's grasp. A blush creeps into her cheeks, "I was pretty wasted. We were going to have a threesome with her boyfriend but it never ended up happening." She feels her tummy flip, as she catches a gleam in Effy's eyes. She suddenly feels an unexplained nervousness, as she changes the subject, "Anyway, can we watch this fucking movie already?"

"Of course."

Their eyes revert back to the screen in front of them, as Effy teasingly throws her arm around Katie's shoulders. There's a bit of resistance but then she gives in, playing along as she leans into the cuddle.

…

Katie waits behind a small line up at the gas station. She had wanted to pay at the pump, but the machine was out of order. Now, here she was – stuck in line. She hears a ring from the door behind her, as a customer has walks in. Of course fate has been extremely consistent with her run-ins lately because it almost isn't a surprise that it's her sister, Emily.

Bile begins to crawl up from her belly to her throat, as their eyes lock. It's not like she hates Emily. That isn't the reason why she dreads running into her sister at all. It was more like she _hated_ _what her sister had became_ – because Emily's wonderful and glamorous life was a reminder of how much of a failure she was, and how her life was pathetic in comparison.

Emily is surprised at the chance meeting, as she greets her with a friendly but hesitant smile. She wonders if Emily is maybe just a little bit bothered with their constant but random meetings too.

"Hey how's it going?"

"Oh just… filling up on gas. How're you?" As always, she tries to hide her annoyance with her sister's presence, but today felt like one of those days she just didn't want to make the effort. Judging by the way Emily was tiptoeing around their conversations, she figures she could tell too.

"I'm about head out on a road trip with some of the girls from work. Gonna check out the coast."

Katie realizes then, that she barely knows anything about her sister's work life, let alone knows what her sister does for a living. "That's nice."

"Excuse me," interrupts the gas attendant, from behind Katie, "May I help you?"

"Ah, yes," she says, turning away from Emily and towards the young boy clerk, "I would like to buy forty dollars worth of gas, please." She hands him her credit card. He swipes her card, but a few seconds later a bleep sounds off, alerting them that her credit card did not go through.

"Here, let me try that again. This happens all the time," he says with a cheerful smile.

What the fuck? Katie thinks nervously. She prays that this was just a glitch, simply a mistake, and that the card will work the second time around. It would definitely be AWFUL timing for her credit card to fail – especially in front of Emily.

Unfortunately another bleep goes off, as the clerk smiles at her sympathetically, while handing back her card. He does his best to discreetly ask her if there's another method of payment that she'd like to try. While panicking she stutters over a yes, as she hastily looks through her wallet, her hand lingering over her bankcard even though she _knows there's no money in it. _She thinks hard trying to remember how much overdraft she has, but then Emily steps up next to her, and hands the boy two twenties. She's torn between hating or loving Emily for saving her, but the pitying eyes from the other customers around her just couldn't stop her for feeling so humiliated, and a little hateful.

"Thanks." He politely avoids looking at Katie and looks over at Emily instead, who pays for her own gas. "Thank you again. Have a good day ladies."

"You too," Emily says, as she tugs Katie away. Just as they're approaching the door, she utters gently, "Sorry I was just trying to help."

"It's fine. I'll just have to go to the bank and ask them what the fuck is going on. That should NOT have fucking happened," She pushes through the door, and heads to the pump. She walks about a few feet, when she hears Emily call out to her, "You should come."

"What?" Katie turns around to face her sister.

"I mean, I'm throwing a birthday party for one my friends in a few weeks. You should come. It'd be great to have you there."

"Sure. I'll think about it."

…

Katie immediately heads to the bank to figure out what the fuck is wrong with her credit card. Of course when she gets there the bank tellers are useless, and they can't explain the error. They apologize, and Katie's left with nothing but to get over it. As she storms out of the bank, without looking up she runs into someone.

"Jesus, I'm so sorry – oh," when she looks up she sees that she's run into Naomi.

"Katie?"

"Oh, hey."

"How're things? Are you keeping healthy?" The blonde offers her a smile, as she looks at Katie from head to toe.

"Yeah, taking care of _this_." She rubs her tummy. She tries to warm up to the blonde, but she's still feeling frazzled over the shitty day she's been having so far.

"That's good to hear."

"Do you have a day off?"

"Yeah, well – actually not really. It's rare that I get a chance to get away from work, but sometimes I get to slip out for a bit of fun."

"Going to the bank is fun?"

"No, but it's necessary."

"Yeah, I guess so," Katie chuckles. There's a pause in the conversation, as Naomi looks down at her watch, and Katie finds herself staring off at nothing. "Well I gotta go, take care."

She's taken about a few steps, when she hears Naomi pipe in, "Did you wanna go for ice cream or something?"

She turns around, and sees the inviting look on Naomi's face.

"My treat."

…

They settle for some fancy ice cream at a café they find near the bank – and it's a good choice for the sweets are definitely delicious.

She isn't sure why she decided to come, besides the fact that the blonde offered to pay. Maybe it's because Naomi felt _neutral_. It's like she isn't close enough for Katie to feel guarded about the possibility of Naomi judging her shitty life, but she isn't a complete stranger either. It's the reason why she feels she could open up to her about _some_ personal things, and it's exactly what Katie needs that right now. (Not to mention she is the _only other person that_ knows about her pregnancy besides Eric.)

They talk a bit, and catch up on each other's lives. Katie quickly goes over her life after high school, (skipping passed the part about Eric being a married man), and is happy when Naomi doesn't really push much for details. When it's Naomi's turn to share Katie is surprised to find out that there really isn't much: after high school Naomi went straight to university to study medicine, eventually graduating and becoming a general practitioner. Judging by her tone, and the lack of life in her eyes while recalling the last nine years, it appeared that Naomi wasn't so happy with her life either. It's a shock for Katie, because she expected that since Naomi was so set in her career, that the girl was happy, or at least in a better place than she was – but she _isn't_.

As Naomi digs into the banana split that they've decided to share, her voice is low, and wavers at bit when she asks, "Do you remember… the party?" All her sudden thoughts of pity for the blonde dissipate, as she can't help but glower at her.

Naomi immediately back pedals after seeing Katie's glare, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have brought it up."

Katie contemplates strangling the blonde – but then decides that giving birth in prison, wasn't something she'd like to experience. "No it's fine," she sighs. "I mean I knew you were going to bring it up eventually." She plays with her spoon, stirring the chocolate fudge sauce around her side of the saucer, "Definitely not one of my greatest moments."

Naomi blanches, as she takes a bite.

"I was such a major slut back then," Katie grimaces.

After a moment, Naomi clears her throat, "Can I be honest?"

She looks over at the blonde, curious over what Naomi felt like she needed to say.

"I don't really remember the full details of the night, because I was _really_ hammered… all I remember was feeling very sad, because – well you remember, Emily and I had just broken up. So yeah, we all just went to Lanny's party, and fuck – _everyone_ was completely wasted or on something."

"So you don't remember…" Katie trails off not really understanding where this was going.

"I remember wanting to go pee really badly," Naomi continues, "And then just going upstairs, with a plan of checking every door to see if it was the bathroom. And then, I remember walking in on you, and those two boys—"

"—Ugh please don't finish this story."

"I won't." Naomi says, reassuringly. "Look we were all stupid and young back then, but who cares? We've all made _mistakes."_ Katie watches as her blue eyes darken. She ponders what big mistake had Naomi done to cause her to look so unhappy. "The only thing that matters, is that everyone has the ability to fix it," Naomi continues after a beat, "If you want it bad enough, you can change. Besides, immediately after I left, let's just say…"

Her blue eyes drop, as she stares at the ice cream in front of them with a shy smile, "I definitely needed a cold shower."

"Oh shut up. That's a terrible way to _make me feel better_," Katie exclaims, as she blushes and the girls laugh. They eat in silence for a bit, as they finish their banana split.

Later when they wait for the bill, Naomi asks about Emily, and Katie does her best to tell her what she knows about her sister, and her current life. Naomi doesn't say much in return but she does ask if Emily's seeing anyone. When she says, 'No' she catches the blonde's eyes lit up at the news. She wonders then if along with being _lonely_, maybe Naomi wasn't over Emily after all. Maybe them breaking up _was her big mistake._

…

When Katie gets home, she decides to go for a stroll around the block and think. Her random _friend date_ with Naomi has left her thinking about a lot of things. Like how bad her life really is in comparison to someone as different as Naomi. Unlike Katie, Naomi has successfully gotten herself a solid career, and is set for life. Other than her student loans, there girl has nothing to worry about it. Yet, she seems just as miserable as Katie, who is obviously the complete opposite; after almost a decade after her glory days ended, Katie still has no real job, a relationship that really barely counts, and a shit ton of debt. Line up both their lives next to each other, taking in consideration that both lived in different worlds, they were equally unhappy with where their lives were heading.

What is the answer though? What is the solution to solving both their problems? The keys to solving these questions remain a mystery to Katie. However, realizing that she isn't alone in her pain makes her feel _a bit better_. It opens her eyes, allowing her to understand that life is more than just being successful.

Her thoughts are interrupted as she rounds the corner as she sees _the woman _standing outside the apartment complex.

It's Anthea.

How the fuck did she find them? She really didn't need this right now.

She walks up to the older woman, in time for Anthea to turn around and notice Katie, "Um, what're you doing here?"

"I came here to talk to Effy." The woman's tone is unfriendly, but Katie stands her ground. She isn't going to let her walk all over her – she isn't _Effy_.

"Yeah well Effy's not here."

"I don't think you have any right to prevent me from seeing my own daughter," she says with her voice raised.

Katie own voice gets louder as she stands her ground, "You're the one that pushed her away."

The verbal jab works, as Anthea backs off. Her face is full of remorse and guilt, which is a surprise for Katie given that last time she was in this woman's presence, Anthea was far from looking guilt-stricken. The woman smiles sadly, as she steps forward closer to Katie, "And now I want to see her again."

As protective as she is of Effy, Anthea's pleading sounds real. She sighs, "Look I just got here. I don't know where she is. Okay?"

The woman nods, as she digs into her purse, and pulls out a piece of paper, and a pen. She scribbles on it and hands it to Katie, "Here's my number. Tell her to call me when she's ready." Anthea leaves quickly, without waiting for a reply.

Bewildered by the event, Katie speed dials Effy's number on her cell. She contemplates telling her that she ran into her mother, but decides not to when she hears Effy happy and oblivious voice when she picks up.

"Hey babe. About time you ringed me. I missed you!"

"Hey Effs, where are you?"

…

**So, did anyone enjoy the more blatant Keffy flirting? Okay so it's more cute, and fluffy but I like a slow build up, you know? There will be more - muwahahaha! Expect to find out more about Effy and her relationship with her parents, specifically Anthea...**

**Also since I've mentioned this before (I just LOVE talking about it because it's quite exciting for me) we are getting close to that sexy chapter I've been blabbing about for a few weeks now. I've never written smut before - because personally I prefer leaving things to the imagination, however I'm quite curious to see if I've got the skills to actually pull it off. What do you think? Anyone want to cheer me on? -S**


	6. Dance On Our Graves

**Title:** Trestling Under the Influence  
><strong>Chapter:<strong> Dance On Our Graves  
><strong>Rating:<strong> T for swearing and sexual content****  
><strong>Disclaimer:** I don't own Skins, nor do I own Sunshine Cleaning.

**Thank you to all those that have been waiting patiently for this update. This chapter was quite hard for me to write, due to some emotional topics that get explored. In fact I lost a tiny bit of motivation, but after the wonderful reviews, all the alerts, favoriting, and of course some lovely PM conversations with some readers (you KNOW who you are!) I found my way again. Keep it coming yo! Even if it's just a simple, 'Sweet chapter, more please!' it's always reassuring for us writers that people want to read more!**

**NEWSFLASH! The speed of my updates may go a touch faster – the lovely Ruby Ruby Ruby has volunteered to be my beta! Yay :D If you don't already know - she has an AMAZING fic out there called Lost & Found. It's SOOOOO GOOOOOOD! I actually feel unworthy of her attention! I honestly don't deserve her help with this fic at all!**

**I also want to apologize to any current or past readers who's fanfics I've been neglecting because I just suck at keeping up while I'm invested in my own work. MoaningMyrtle123, Hyperfitched, SomeAreLakes! If anyone one of you are actually reading this – sorry for being a twat! I love your work dearly, and I should really convey that through reviewing!**

**This chapter is dedicated to my friend La Rouche, who was a dear and pimped out my story in her adorably funny K/N fic, entitled 'A Stained Glass Heart'. Want a taste of something different? Read it and review it! **

**Support all the unconventional pairings/stories out there!**

**And now…. Chapter Six!**

* * *

><p>Her fingers drum against the steering wheel as she is parked in a Save Mart parking lot, waiting for Effy. They had planned to meet up to go shopping for supplies. (They'd been procrastinating for the last couple of weeks, and their current stock of supplies has hit an extreme low.) Effy's late - which really shouldn't surprise her, but it does – and it's a huge let down. Since starting the business together, Effy had been solid, and actually quite reliable. It gave Katie hope that maybe the brunette was changing for the better, and for <em>good – <em>but she is clearly wrong_. _Effy hasn't changed – and the thing is Katie should've recognized that this is her style. When it came to relying on Effy as far as work or responsibility, she was always great in the beginning, but then after a certain point she would ultimately slip and fuck things up.

Her phone rings. It's a client with a job for them – and it infuriates Katie, because now it changes all her plans for the day. Shopping will have to be postponed until after the job - which she is thankful for - but it has completely thrown off her schedule. She considers ditching her poor excuse for a business partner and heading out, but ends up deciding to _wait for Effy. _

After about half an hour, her patience wears thin, and she decides to leave. She shoves the key into the ignition, starting the van. Of course just as she goes to move forward, the passenger's side door opens, and in comes Effy. The girl is completely oblivious to Katie's furiousness, as she greets her with a smile, and starts strapping her seat belt in.

"You're fucking late."

Effy freezes in her movements, as she looks over at the smaller girl with a naïve expression, "Sorry."

Katie shakes her head, "Effy, I'm fed up. This is getting so ridiculous that I've passed my limit, and I'm finding that I don't even give a shit anymore." She sighs, "Look we've got a job to do. Just because it's our business doesn't mean we can do whatever the fuck we want."

Effy goes to reply, but Katie cuts right in again: "And just so you know, that while I was sitting here like a moron waiting for you, I got us a job. You know what that means? That now I have to rearrange my entire personal and work schedule _because of you_."

"I'm sorry, okay? I fucked up. You can still rely on me, all right?"

"Are you sure?" Katie asks.

Effy reaches over and holds Katie's hand. "Yeah babe, for real."

She's trying her best not to fight with Effy. Ever since their last fight, Katie made the conscious decision to try and minimize the amount of disputes between them, but this was Effy, and of course such an ideal would be difficult to achieve.

"We've got a suicide," Katie says coolly changing the topic. Out of the corner of her eye she watches the way Effy's face drops at the mention of the word _suicide_. She knows it's cruel, but she ignores the reaction - right now _was her turn to be selfish._

…

Katie pulls the van up to the house and sees an old lady, sitting out front. She looks down at her pad of notes to find her name again. Mrs. Davies.

"Oh man," Effy utters beside her. She grabs for Katie's hand and gives it a squeeze, before both girls get out of the van, and head over to the porch.

"Mrs. Davies?"

The woman looks up. She's fairly old, her white hair twisted up in a messy knot. Katie feels a pang of guilt wash over her as she takes in the look of devastation in the Mrs. Davies face. She seems so lost, dazed with grief.

"We're the cleaning service."

"Yes, yes…. I uh, I wanted to give you the keys."

The old lady holds out a shaky hand. Katie goes to reach for the keys, but then decides against it as she gestures for Effy to take them. Effy nods without arguing.

"In the sunroom. That's where my husband… I had bridge and…" She blinks twice, slowly, then snaps back out of her daze. "Do you need me to show you?"

"No, no, that won't be necessary. I'm sure we'll find it."

"Oh, okay. That's good then." She exhales, deeply. "My son-in-laws's coming to take me to lunch at the Howard Johnson's. They have such nice rolls there."

"Would you like to sit for a bit, Mrs. Davies?"

"Yes dear, I think I would."

Katie sits down on the steps with Mrs. Davies as Effy quietly enters the house.

Katie reaches over and places a hand on the Mrs. Davies' shoulder. Words seem useless.

…

Later that night Katie gets woken up when she feels the mattress dip down behind her. She flips over to see Effy siting on her bed, with her back turned.

"Effy?"

The brunette doesn't respond. Katie takes a deep breath as she sits up, and reaches over to touch Effy's shoulder.

"Effy what's wrong?"

She feels the other girl begin to shake under her touch. Effy turns around with eyes all puffy and red, tears spilling down her pale cheeks. She hugs Katie desperately, crying into her neck.

"I miss him Katie." Effy pulls Katie in tighter, as the smaller girl does nothing but hold her. She doesn't have to ask – she _knows_ she's talking about Freddie.

"I miss him, and I wish I could've done something. I wish I could've stopped him."

"Effy, we've been though this. You know it's not your fault."

"But I knew he needed help. I knew something was wrong, and I did nothing."

Katie sighs. It was terrible, and sad, but Freddie's life was always fated to end tragically. Long before Effy or Katie ever met Freddie, he had been plagued by depression. At a young age, he had lost his mother to suicide – and it really fucked him up. Then, Effy entered his world – and it was a little better for a while. Effy tried to take care of him, fix him. She thought that if she loved him enough it would save him but it didn't work. He reverted back to his endless cycle of despair, taking Effy down with him, as they submerged themselves in drugs and alcohol. No one is clear whether or not it was premeditated or accidental, but Freddie eventually overdosed and died. There was no note, no apologies – but then again, there didn't have to be.

Effy was distraught, and immediately blamed herself for his death. So did Freddie's father, who caused a lot of problems for Effy and her parents, as the incident destroyed their reputation. Sadly for Effy, her parents cared about their pride more than they cared about their daughter, which led to a lot of fighting and Effy running away from home, disappearing for months.

Katie would find out later, that Effy had gone down to California, and got herself into a lot of trouble. Her brother Tony tracked her down, and brought her back to Oregon.

Now, nine years later here Effy and Katie were. A couple of screw-ups, bound together for life. Although she wishes she could've made a few different life decisions – like get a better education, and maybe pursue better career goals, Katie was happy that she and Effy had been brought together. Life was far from perfect, but having each other's companionship had kept them both sane _and alive._

About an hour later, it's past midnight and they're both still awake. Effy has her head on Katie's chest, as Katie gently strokes her long, brown mane.

Katie suddenly remembers the visit from Anthea, "Your Mom was here today."

Effy lifts her head up for a moment, dropping it back down onto Katie's chest after a beat.

Katie continues: "She said, she wanted to see you—"

"—I don't care."

Katie isn't surprised by Effy's reaction, deciding to let the conversation go. She's almost asleep when Effy whispers to her.

"Don't leave me."

Katie opens her eyes to see Effy staring up at her. "I'd never leave you. Okay?"

Their eyes lock, and for the first time in a long time Effy looks young, a lot younger than she is. She feels the brunette shift around, pushing herself up to lean closer to Katie. Their faces are inches apart, and Effy's piercing blue eyes are wide-eyed but contemplative, as if a sudden thought has popped into her mind, and she's working it through.

Katie searches Effy's eyes, wondering what's wrong, but then everything _stops_ when Effy leans in. It's just lips but Katie's heart quickens, the kiss feels like it lasts forever. When they pull apart, Katie's eyes are still closed as she feels Effy place her head back on her pounding chest.

It takes Katie a bit longer as she lingers on what the fuck just happened, but her eyes lids eventually feel incredibly heavy and she falls asleep.

…

She wakes up _alone_ the next morning. At first she's in a panic at how to act but nothing happens as Effy greets her with a quick 'Morning Babe' in the kitchen.

_Nothing is mentioned._ She doesn't have the balls to bring it up, and wonders if Effy is in the same boat. She then wonders if last night was just a moment of comfort that Effy needed, _and that was it._

No matter the case, Effy acts normal, and the day goes on. Katie decides to just let it go, and leave it at that – that it _was nothing_.

(Even though it really _isn't_.)

…

They decide to have a few friends over for drinks. Technically Effy persuaded her into it, and Katie pretends that her passiveness has nothing to do with last night. Like, what happened didn't disarm her, or caused her decision-making skills to go to shit. What throws her off completely is when Effy asks if a couple friends could come over, she actually just means Sophia.

She's shocked when she opens to the door, and sees the other girl, all dolled up and standing in the hallway.

"Oh hey Katie."

She forces herself to be polite, "Hi."

They stand there a moment, both girls just gawking at each other before Sophia speaks up again, "Um, may I come in?"

"Yeah of course. Sorry, I have no idea where my manners went." Katie steps aside, as Sophia makes her way into the apartment. She takes another look at the girl, and realizes that she cleans up well, and is actually quite beautiful.

"It's okay."

Sophia takes her shoes off, as Effy comes in from her bedroom and greets her with a hug. As Katie watches the embrace, she tries to tell herself that she's jealous of _how close_ Effy and Sophia's friendship apparently is, and _that was the only reason._

When they break apart, Effy beams down at Katie with a smile, "Well, let's drink!"

…

Time passes and the girls wind up getting drunk in the living room – at least Effy and Sophia do. Katie has gotten away with drinking cranberry and soda water, lying to Effy about throwing in a shot of vodka in the kitchen earlier. When she finishes her last sip, Effy opens a bottle of beer, and hands it to her, as if deciding that Katie will drink tonight and it isn't a suggestion. Katie accepts the drink reluctantly, holding it in her grasp.

She's suddenly feeling like a third wheel as she watches Effy and Sophia laugh together like a couple of girlfriends who have known each other for years. She's not sure where all her hate is coming from (although she _has an idea_, but really doesn't want to consider it) and Katie decides that she just can't stand Sophia anymore. It was okay when she was just a girl that happened to work at a store that she and Effy frequented, but now, seeing her and Effy get along like friends, it bugs the shit out of her.

She watches Sophia reach over and push Effy's arm playfully, and Katie finds herself wondering if Sophia might be flirting? Effy is completely oblivious – and also kind of ignoring Katie, which hurts and pisses Katie off at the same time.

She tries to pay attention to the conversation – it's something about work, maybe about Winston – but Katie just can't get into it. She reaches for her cell phone and looks down at the list of people in her contacts feeling like a fake for having over a shit ton of numbers that she never calls or texts. Her eyes linger on Emily's number, as she thinks about ringing her up for something to do, but her mind wanders and she's suddenly wondering what Naomi's up to. She thinks about it for a second before sending the blonde a text. It's about ten or fifteen minutes later when Naomi replies back that she's having a late night at the clinic.

She's about to ask her if she wants to come over when Effy calls out her name.

"What?"

"I said, your beer is getting warm," Effy repeats, as Sophia giggles beside her. Sophia starts talking again, and Effy directs her attention back to the girl sitting next to her, but not before giving Katie a serious look.

Katie gets up abruptly, "I'm going to make some snacks? Anyone else hungry?" she heads to the kitchen without waiting for a reply.

Busying herself in the kitchen, she's puts together a platter of crackers, pickles, and cheese. She looks back into the living room to see Effy and Sophia engrossed in a quiet and serious conversation, which only makes her blood boil even more.

After putting the box of crackers of away, she grabs her beer, and sneakily pours it down the drain.

"What're you doing?"

She turns around, and really there's nothing to say because she's been caught. She clears her throat, and slams the beer bottle down on the counter. She goes back to slicing cheese, and ignores Effy, as she feels the other girl take a step closer.

"Are you pregnant?"

Katie almost chops her finger off, as turns around to gape at the brunette, "What?"

Effy's voice is low, "Katie, you don't drink anymore, you don't smoke anymore. I know you're not just putting on weight—"

"—Fuck off Effy."

"Just tell me the truth."

The truth doesn't come out, as Katie stands there, frozen. Effy moves in close, and takes the knife out of Katie's hand.

Katie feels a panic surge inside her, and somehow she knows that even though it's because they were finally having _this talk_, it also has to do with _how close Effy is standing next to her._ Shivers shoot down her spine as she feels Effy's warm breath against her neck. It's only when the smell of Effy's fruity shampoo starts to make her feel dizzy that she tells her brain to stop thinking altogether – because now isn't the time to think about _that._

"Please?" Effy begs again.

"I'm not."

It's exactly what Effy doesn't want to hear, but Katie can't think of anything to do but to run, so she heads to her bedroom.

Closing the door shut behind her, she lets out a deep breath, before taking a seat at the foot of the bed. Through the closed door, she hears Effy tell Sophia that something's up and that they're going to call it a night. She offers Sophia a spot on the couch.

When Effy enters the bedroom, Katie can no longer hide her tears.

Effy closes the door gently, before turning around, leaning back in a tired slouch. Katie can't help but notice the distance between them, and the way Effy is pressed back against the door, as if to keep herself in a safe position.

"Why are you lying to me? We're supposed to be best friends." Effy's voice is full of hurt, and disappointment. "You had so many chances to be honest with me, but you didn't even make an effort."

Effy moves away from the door, and stands directly in front of Katie with her arms crossed. There's still a distance between them, as Effy spits out bitterly, "I fucking knew all along. I don't know why you just didn't say anything."

Katie's throat feels raw, as she replies quietly, "I didn't want you to judge me." It is a pathetic excuse really, but _it's so Katie_, always caring way too much over what people think about her for her own good.

"What, like how you judge me all the time?" Effy's eyes are wide, appalled by her own accusation, and Katie has no argument against it. The brunette shakes her head in disgust, "Fuck Katie."

"I'm sorry." Katie looks away, as she feels a sob begin to crawl up her throat, but she suppresses it. She didn't mean for the lie to get so far out of hand. At first it was because she was uncertain that it was actually real. That she was going to have a child. Then it became about when was the right time to say something, or how should she word things? Or maybe it all boiled down to insecurity, _like it always __did_. That Katie didn't want Effy to look down on her, like she knows Emily and her mother will.

Her breath hitches, as Effy grabs her hands and kneels down in front of her, looking up with softened eyes, "I love you. I wouldn't have cared. All right?"

Katie feels like the biggest idiot in the world. Effy hasn't judged her at all, and she feels like shittiest best friend in the world because the same has not been true when it's been the other way around. She should've never kept it a secret. If anything is more certain in Katie's life these days, it is Effy's investment in their friendship, and how it means a lot more to Effy then she lets on – and Katie's just finding that out.

They hug.

…

That night she dreams.

She's walking down an unfamiliar street with Effy. Soon they arrive at what she recognizes to be Eric's house.

Eric opens the door with a smarmy grin, as Effy's steps in. Katie goes to enter, but then the door is slammed shut before she even gets a chance. Confused, she knocks on the door. After a few beats, the door is opened by a frail little girl dressed in faded rags with extremely short sandy blonde hair.

Katie asks the girl what happened to Eric.

'Eric doesn't live here.'

Katie realizes by the deepness of the child's voice, that she may be talking to a little boy and not a little girl. The child is so androgynous looking too that it's hard for her to tell.

'Well where's Effy?'

The child replies, 'There's no Effy here either.'

Katie wonders who the child is, and goes to ask but then finds that she's lost her voice. Panic begins to surge through her, as she wonders what the fuck is going on when blood begins to drip down from the child's forehead—

She wakes up in a cold sweat. Katie looks around for Effy, but she's gone.

There's a note in the kitchen.

_**Giving Sophia a ride to work. Be back later preggo!**_

_**Love you! -Effy xoxo **_

She feels her stomach begin to cramp up, and goes to drink some water and painkillers. When her muscle spasms subside, she reaches for her cell phone on the kitchen counter.

…

While sitting in the patient room waiting for Naomi, she tries her best not to think negatively, but she can't help but wonder if her dream was a terrible omen. Most of the time, she could never remember what she dreamt about the night before. She could only really remember flashes of people in them; the colors of their clothes or their surroundings, and a brief amount of conversations exchanged. Typically her dreams meant nothing.

Suddenly she feels a deep stabbing pain in her abdomen. She falls forward, onto the ground and away from her chair, as she grasps at her stomach. Her knees scuff up against the cold tile, and she wishes she'd worn jeans instead of a skirt.

Naomi barely utters out a 'Hello' before she's bolting over to Katie's side on the ground, "Katie what's wrong?"

Tears spill from her cheeks, "It hurts. Oh god it hurts Naomi."

"Let's sit up for a second."

Katie sits up against the wall. There are spots of blood on the ground, trailing back to Katie's pale white thighs.

"Oh god, " Katie says in shock.

"Come now, let's get you on the bed." The blonde offers Katie her hand, but she refuses it.

Naomi sticks her head out the door and calls for a nurse.

"I can't move, it hurts so much."

Naomi nods, as she grabs a pillow and blanket from the cot. She gets Katie to sit on the pillow, as she wraps the blanket around her. A portly nurse arrives, as Naomi gestures towards the front desk down the hall away from them. "I need the portable – I need to make a phone call. And can you please bring me some towels, and some hot water. She's bleeding."

The nurse hands Naomi the phone and leaves to get the water and towels.

Naomi bends down and pushes Katie's hair away from her face.

"Is there—"

Katie nods, and gives her Effy's number.

Naomi holds her hand, as she tries to get ahold of Effy. She's not getting through.

"Fuck." Naomi whispers as she redials.

After a few more tries, Katie breaks down. She reaches for Naomi, sobbing into her neck, as tears spill down soaking the blonde's blouse wet. Naomi arms tighten around her.

They stay together in the embrace as the clinic's other doctors take over Naomi's other appointments.

…

Naomi drives Katie home. When they arrive – Effy's still missing.

Still in haze, Katie immediately collapses on the couch, as Naomi grabs her a tall glass of water from the kitchen. When she downs the water in one gulp, Naomi suggests that maybe Katie should head to bed. Katie nods, as Naomi helps her up, and they head to the bedroom.

As Katie is in the midst of taking off her cardigan, they hear the front door open. Naomi can't help but frown, when Effy stumbles into the bedroom, arms full of shopping bags, an oblivious smile on her face as she's calling out for Katie.

At first, her eyes quirk, as Effy's a bit thrown off with Naomi's presence, but when she notices the distraught expression on Katie's face, her smile instantly drops.

"Where were you?" Katie asks her voice laced with hurt.

"I'm sorry I was out, and my phone died." Effy looks between Naomi and Katie. "What's wrong?"

Naomi turns away, as Katie bursts into tears. "It's gone."

Effy doesn't initially get it right away, but after glancing over at Naomi she eventually puts two and two together. The bags drop to the ground with a resounding thud.

"Oh fuck."

She moves to grab Katie, hugging her in a tight embrace. Katie cries instantly. Her sobs echo through the apartment.

After a minute, Naomi places Katie's keys on her night table, announcing to the girls that she was going to give them some space. She says sorry to Katie again, for her loss and starts to make her way out of the room.

"Naomi wait." Effy pulls back from her hug with Katie, "Have you ever gone trestling?"

…

**Thoughts? Questions? Speculations, or concerns? Review please! **

**And remember, UP NEXT – things are going to get **_**physical**_** next chapter ;) **

**Also, Ruby Ruby Ruby – wasn't sure if you wanted me to send you my revision before I published it tonight so that you could approve of my changes :( I hope it's okay that I jumped the gun, and posted what I thought was ready? And I hope you like my changes? I guess we'll talk later lol. **


End file.
